Many medical diagnoses rely on non-invasive diagnostic tools to provide information, often in the form of images, descriptive of status of internal portions or organs of a patient. These tools include thermal imaging (e.g., mammography), ultrasonic probes, magnetic resonance imaging techniques, positron emission tomography, computed tomography (CT), single photon emission-computed tomography (SPECT), optical imaging and/or X-ray based techniques. In some minimally invasive instances, imaging aids, such as contrast-enhancing agents, are introduced into the subject or patient to aid in increasing available data content from the non-destructive imaging technique or techniques being employed.
Each of these tools presents advantages in particularized situations, has technological limitations, may require set-up and analysis time, can include risks and also has associated costs. As a result, a cost-benefit analysis that also reflects the degree of urgency with respect to a particular diagnostic trajectory often favors usage of X-ray based measurement techniques.
However, exposure to X-rays can result in some risk to the test subject or patient. For at least this reason, the dosage of X-rays incident on the patient, organ or object being evaluated/imaged, is often carefully chosen and controlled, for example, variables such as current to the X-ray tube (mA or milliAmperes), peak voltage applied to the X-ray tube (kVp or kilovolts peak) and exposure time, and by selecting and defining an area to be exposed to provide successful imaging via masking, based on the task and the test subject or patient's parameters, with least health risk to the patient or radiation exposure to the object being imaged. The Food and Drug Administration has recently identified X-rays as potentially having carcinogenic effects, adding impetus to the desire to reduce overall exposure while still providing imaging characteristics capable of enabling rapid, effective and accurate diagnostic aids.
Several factors influence image quality resulting from an X-ray procedure. Statistical photon noise resulting from characteristics of the X-ray source and the X-ray generation conditions tends to dominate other noise sources in formation of an X-ray image. Signal conditioning consistent with achieving suitable contrast between various image portions, and contrast enhancement techniques, are also important considerations in providing diagnostic images, and these issues require increasingly sophisticated treatment as dose and/or photon energy are decreased.
One of the key tenets of medical X-ray imaging is that image quality should be carefully considered in determining exposure conditions. Exposure considerations include predetermined dose criteria vis-a-vis dose of X-rays delivered to the test subject or patient in order to provide images. The design and operation of a detector used for medical X-ray imaging should therefore be tailored, responsive to the particularized task and measurement conditions, including variables in test subject mass, opacity and the like, to provide high image quality for each X-ray exposure that is incident at its input. However, diagnostic medical tools such as X-ray imaging systems are precision instruments, very carefully designed, and then built to exacting standards. As such, these kinds of imaging systems represent significant capital investments. Additionally, training personnel to maintain and calibrate such equipment, to operate and then to interpret data obtained via these diagnostic tools also encompasses additional investment. Also, comparison of data from one assessment to another, and from one timeframe to another, is greatly facilitated when the data are collected and processed in a relatively well-understood context. At the same time, technical developments may provide opportunity to leverage existing infrastructural elements by retrofitting them using sophisticated, newly-developed technological subsystems, and this also may facilitate capabilities not present in the ensemble of systems elements contemplated at initial design and deployment.
For example, X-ray systems and other non-destructive and largely non-invasive characterization devices have realized dramatic changes in capability during the last century or more. Medical diagnostic capabilities unimaginable prior to C. W. Roentgen's observations of X-rays images in 1895 have fostered intense and remarkably fruitful research, study and development, improving medical treatment capabilities to such an extent as to have, in turn, played pivotal roles leading to conception and subsequent maturation of entirely new medical specialties and treatment options.
One new tool resulting from this research employs pixelated X-ray detectors (detectors comprising a geometric array of multiple detector elements, where each detector element may be individually representative of at least a portion of a picture element in the resultant image). These detectors are increasingly being employed, particularly for medical imaging. Among other things, they facilitate digital representation of images and other data resulting from usage of the systems, which, in turn, enables digital signal processing, data storage and data transmission technologies.
A significant result of these technological innovations is that the potential and capability for real-time consultation between multiple experts, such as medical doctors, during what is called the “golden hour” following a medically-significant event, is greatly enhanced. Representation of such information in digital formats eases transmission, reception and standardized display of the information without incurring loss of acuity of data obtained from the measurement process and greatly eases reduction of noise from the transmission/reception process. Provision of capability for multiple experts to collaborate virtually instantly, even from geographically diverse locations. In turn, this facilitates such collaboration, despite extreme scenarios, e.g., triage following an unanticipated disaster. As a result, these capabilities represent strong impetus to incorporate new subsystems within existing diagnostic instruments.
However, incorporation of embodiments of such subsystems may result in some types of incompatibilities within the systems themselves. Aspects of system performance other than those bearing directly on factors motivating addition of modules incorporating recent advances can then have somewhat subtle, and unforeseen, impact on overall system performance, operation and maintenance issues.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons discussed below, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present disclosure, there are needs in the art to provide modified system input/output and/or maintenance information in support of increasingly stringent and exacting performance and economic standards in settings such as medical instrumentation.